


水泳　鬼百合

by beyondcrystyle



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, thanks for reading
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-10-23 19:17:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10725522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyondcrystyle/pseuds/beyondcrystyle
Summary: The Suiei Clan is an enigma; their beautiful dances upon water have them in demand across the Elemental Nations, but on the other hand, nobody really knows if the rumour about them is true or not; the rumour that they can break the barrier between you and your last life.





	1. 1. Ritual / Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Cover:
> 
> link: http://theninjafromyesterday.tumblr.com/image/162895204968

Suiei Hanabi took in a deep breath and released it, her brush pausing and flowing in time with her lungs. Slowly, but surely, her last name grew beneath the fine hairs of the brush; 水泳. It was a simple last name, with no double meanings nor be tracked down to ancient times. It was relatively modern compared to the clan names dominating the Elemental Lands. All it meant was: _water_.

(Yet it meant so much _more._ )

There was a space below the two kanji, enough space for at least three characters. It was ready for a new name, but her name – 花火, _fireworks_ , or, _fire flower_ – was not the one to be written there. Hanabi didn’t know what would be written there in a few hours. Only time would tell.

The reminder of this evening’s oncoming events draws her attention to the baby resting in the corner of the room. She wasn’t even thirty days old, and yet tomorrow she could be older than Hanabi herself. It was the rite of the Suiei Clan, and every baby had to attend it, on the next full moon after their birth.

It was the only “bloodline” the Suiei Clan had, but it had the potential to be more powerful than the Uchiha’s Sharagin or the Hyuuga’s Bakugan.

As the tradition of the rite, her baby wasn’t named yet. When addressed, it was always “Hanabi’s baby,” or “your baby.” Only after the full moon would the baby be crowned with their own name, hand-picked and chosen by the baby itself, as per the ritual.

The last half-an-hour before the sunset disappeared from the horizon Hanabi spent treating her baby like a baby should be treated. She let it grasp her fingers in a weak grip, she sat her up and bounced her baby on her knee. This could very well be the last time she could get away with this.

She wasn’t a true sensor, but she could feel chakra just a little bit. Already her baby’s mental chakra is larger than her physical, probably from centuries of ancestors with gigantic mental chakra.

The baby fell asleep, and so Hanabi was left to watch the orange, red and pink drain out of the sky until nothing was left except the deep blue of the night, speckled with tiny stars. Above, the great full moon glowed in between the clouds that were scattered across the sky.

The gong sounded twice. Once for each baby that was beginning their rite.

Silently, Hanabi rose, her baby carefully balanced in her arms and exited her house, wooden beams creaking as she strode across her veranda. The boat houses they had rented out for tonight were connected through an intricate system of jetties and piers. To combat the rising tide, all things wooden were attached to tall wooden poles so they could float up and down in time with the ocean.

Tonight, the sea was lapping at the boardwalk, and occasionally the sea slapped against the wood, sending a little spout of water up between the logs. Thankfully, even with the clouds dotting the sky, it wasn’t raining. Hanabi knew that come hail or fire, her baby was going to go through the Suiei birth ritual.

Her clan mates silently exited their houses, trailing all around her, all walking with minimal talk, towards the house that was chosen to hold the ritual.

Despite the significance of the ritual, the clan head didn’t demand every member to attend. Furthermore, only those of Suiei blood could be present when the ritual commenced. Those who were brought from the outside couldn’t.

The house was packed, and yet Hanabi could move freely. She knew from past experiences that her mobility was only because of the baby she held in her arms. Finally, the crowd settled, a silence casting over the group, only broken by a few whispers.

The crowd had gathered around the circle of some twelve members, about half a metre behind them. In the centre of the circle – a circle that took up most of the house. There was a reason why this house was chosen, and it wasn’t only because it had an open top – stood the clan head.

She was a demanding presence, despite the hijab covering most of her masculine face. Suiei Kiku stood proud and tall, wearing the clothes of the clan head with dignity. Her past wasn’t really well known, but it was there to ask for those who wanted to know. Apparently, she was an Arabic prince, although that was only the rumours Hanabi, unfortunately, overheard from the younger members.

“Welcome to this year’s fourth Full Moon ritual.” The first words she spoke weren’t formally part of the ritual, but the small conversations taking place around the room grounded to a halt. “For this April, we are welcoming two new members into our ranks.” She turns to face Hanabi and the woman beside her.

“Hanabi, Asagao,” Kiku nods, addressing them quietly. “Thank you for your brave journey of pregnancy. I know myself could never survive through it, and I thank you for your courage.”  The rest of the clan bowed at once. Mothers were honoured in the Suiei Clan for bringing life to the world. Hanabi took a deep breath and braced herself for the next step.

“Do you have a preference to who goes first?” Kiku asks, looking at the two mothers in the eye. Hanabi didn’t really know the other women, only seeing her around occasionally. The Suiei clan wasn’t large, but it wasn’t _small_ either.

“I would prefer to go last,” the woman asks, dipping her head at the clan head. Kiku turns to Hanabi, the silent question reaching between them.

“I don’t mind,” Hanabi admits. She knew that this ritual was coming, and Hanabi had to face the truth; she wasn’t suited to mothering. Maybe, ten months ago, she thought she could change her mind. But she knew how, after two weeks of babysitting, that it just wasn’t in her bones.

“Thank you Hanabi,” Kiku bows, and Hanabi’s child (not anymore, she reminds herself) is gently taken from her arms to rest in Kiku’s arms. Thankfully, the baby doesn’t awaken. There had been too many times when the ritual had to be carried out with a screaming baby. It wasn’t fun.

Hanabi retreats from the circle, joining the rest of the clan. The circle closes again once ___ follows Hanabi through. Once she and the other women made themselves comfortable on the wooden floor (Hanabi was slightly thankful that the houses were always slightly higher than the ocean level, so no water could seep through the cracks) Kiku rises from the little cradle sitting in the middle of the circle.

Everyone in this room had been placed in that cradle when they went through the ritual. It was worn from years of use, but the seals that were carefully inked on nearly every surface had not faded with time. Kiku raises her head to stare at the full moon above them, everyone but the twelve helpers kept their heads down.

“Great Rabbit Goddess,” Kiku addresses, and Hanabi swears, like all rituals she’s attended, that it glows brighter with the three words. “Time has proceeded until it is that time again. We ask our same question, asked since you have taught us, thousands of years ago.”

Here the twelve members that help with the ceremony start to gather their chakra, letting it gather around the cradle, the seals slowly gathering brilliance and power.

“It is our honour to accept your chakra and break the barrier.” Here, Kiku rattles off several lines, all in different languages. Hanabi only could understand two sentences, one in Italian and the other in French. While it varied from language to language, it was all prayers towards the clan’s goddess.

“May the great Kaguya bless this new child, and give them their old memories back.”

Hanabi has attended this ritual since her own. She’s seen it from every angle. She’s even been one of the twelve pouring their chakra into the seals to contain the chakra to just the cradle. But it still happens.

The moon _drips_. It’s only a small drop, barely seen, no larger than a normal rain drop, but it’s _still there._ It lands on the baby’s forehead – like it always does – and vanishes into the baby’s soul.

Kiku forms a few hand seals, which was more of a formality than a true jutsu. The air is thick with chakra, but it shatters once the barrier is broken, and the baby recalls its past life.

(Hanabi can still recall her ritual. Waking up in a cradle with strangers and something humming in the air. She used to be named Kirsten then.)

There is a moment of silence for the baby – now mentally older than its body – to gain its bearing.

Finally, Kiku leans forward, just enough to catch the baby’s attention.

“Welcome new one. You have been reborn, and this is your new clan.” Kiku says in Japanese. It isn’t the language of the land, but it resembles it to almost be called Japanese. Then, Kiku repeats it in English. In French. She marches through various languages, some that don’t sound like a language, but a groan in the back of her throat. Apparently, it was an alien language.

“Do you understand me?” Kiku asks in Japanese. The baby nods. “That’s a good place to start.” It was mostly a hit and miss with the languages. There were still some people who knew languages that nobody else knew.

“It is my honour to meet you. I welcome you to the Suiei Clan, and hope that you find yourself at home.” Kiku bows. “As is tradition, you are turning over a new leaf. You will be given a new name, to signify your new beginning. It is a custom that all names have 花, or something pertaining to flower. Hanabi, do you have any ideas?” Normally, Kiku wouldn’t have asked this, but Hanabi was wedded to an outsider. The Suiei Clan was accepting towards their name suggestions, as long as they had ‘hana’ in it.

Hanabi took a deep breath and says the name the father has told her before he left. She watches as the baby twist its head slightly to her direction, no doubt wondering about the voice coming from the darkness.

“Do you wish to take this name?” Kiku asks the baby. It nods, little mouth working as it either trying to say something or trying out the name.

“Welcome to the clan.” Kiku smiles and gently slides her hands under its shoulders, approaching the edge of the circle. “This is your caretaker until you can be independent. Hanabi is the one who gave life to your new form. Please treat her with the uttermost respect.”

Hanabi takes her baby – no longer that, not since the Rabbit Goddess gave the blessing – and carefully sits it on her hip as she rises, taking it outside. Already her young body was yawning, great big mouth leaving wet patches against her shirt. She was already used to that from the two weeks since her birth, but she also remembered not being able to control their own body after the ritual and for many months.

Her mental chakra was skyrocketing as it compensated for the sudden increase of memories, wisdom, and intelligence beyond any baby should have. Already it was approaching the level Hanabi had herself when her memories had been unlocked.

Hanabi takes them back to the house that was set aside for them. Other members came outside to learn the baby’s name and to welcome them. Those who were brought from the outside treat the baby like it was its physical age, despite the explanation of what the ritual did, handed to them upon their entrance to the clan.

Finally, Hanabi makes it back home, just in time to see the moon _drip_ again, at that house far away. She couldn’t see the drop, it was hard enough to see at the ritual, but she had seen it enough to predict it anyway. Hanabi lies the newest addition to her clan and her household into the little cradle in the corner of the room. It could take anywhere from a few months to a few years before newborns could leave their caretakers.

Hanabi returns to the scroll with the clan name neatly printed at the top. She brings out the brush and the ink, letting her relax in the preparation. Finally, she draws the last few kanji into the empty space. There was a reason why she left enough space for three kanji.

水泳 鬼百合.

Suiei Oniyuri.


	2. 1. Ritual / Chapter 2

Oniyuri carefully curled her fingers around the target and tightened her hold, gingerly rising it. The cup wobbles in her hands, the tiny muscles in her arms straining. The bottom of the cup barely got off the table before a large hand comes and tugs it out of her hands.

“Oniyuri-sama, you should not stress your muscles so much.” She scowls at the words, slowly raising her head to watch her caretaker, Hanabi, take the cup over to the kitchen and empty it, placing it in the pile of dirty plates.

True to her word, Oniyuri’s muscles were already burning from the exercise. It was only two weeks ago the Suiei’s birth ritual was performed on her, and the baby’s body just wasn’t ready for extreme exercise. The motor skills were equally poor, so the most she had done in this state was keep her head up. Even now, Oniyuri needed a backrest to prop herself up.

“Are you ready for the introduction?” Hanabi asks, sitting down next to Oniyuri, slowly offering a spoon with unidentifiable liquid substance. The spoon slides into her mouth and Oniyuri carefully shut her mouth around the spoon and sucks it down. She had finally mastered the art of swallowing without dropping half of it down the front of her shirt just yesterday.

“Y-Y-” Hanabi smiles and offers another spoonful of milk. Oniyuri sits in silence as Hanabi goes over the facts that she had repeated every night before bed.

Half of it was simple things about her new body. To improve speech, it was recommended that newcomers should repeat the hiragana table out loud as many times as possible, because normal babies babble at night, repeating all the sounds they heard during the day.

Due to prior knowledge, Suiei clans tend to pass milestones far sooner. The average time between the ritual and the ability to do exercise greater than sitting up and first word marked around a month or two, and it took about a half a year for new members achieve satisfactory mobility.

Another thing was information about the Suiei Clan. They lived in the Elemental Nations, a land where _ninjas_ lived. They used chakra to fight each other, but the Suiei Clan was a civilian clan. Because of how they earned their money – how, what, and why was still a mystery to Oniyuri – they travelled all around the country.

“We have darker skin because our clan originates from Lightning. Yours is slightly lighter because I met your father in Fire.” Hanabi explains, holding her arm next to Oniyuri’s. True to her word, Oniyuri’s skin was multiple shades lighter than hers, although it was far darker than the skin she had in her last life.

With the last spoonful of milk long gone, Hanabi quietly left the room for a moment to gather Oniyuri’s clothes and her own. She returned to extract the spoon Oniyuri had in her grasp and slowly tugging off the sleepwear she had on.

“Seeing as you know Japanese, I suspect you know about kimonos, Oniyuri-sama?” Hanabi asks, laying out the fabric in question, neatly displaying them for Oniyuri to see.

“Ye-ye-yesssss,” she stutters out, finally achieving the word. It wasn’t her first, seeing as Oniyuri worked hard so Hanabi’s name was the first word she spoke.

“Fantastic. A lot of the first members to regain their past life were Japanese, so clan traditions are deeply enriched by Western culture. Of course, other cultures have made their place, but in order to fit in, we dress to impress.” Hanabi lifts up Oniyuri’s arms to slide them through the children’s yukata. It was slightly heavier than her body was used to, but it wasn’t used to much. “Our clan mostly dress in kimonos and yukatas.”

It takes some time for Hanabi to tie the obi around Oniyuri’s chest and spent a good five minutes putting on her own.

“Alright,” Hanabi smooths down the bottom of her yukata. “Let’s go,” She reaches down to pull Oniyuri off the floor, setting her on her hip. Oniyuri’s tiny fingers automatically grasped the thin fabric, and they took the moment to make her burp.

They walk out of the little hotel room the clan rented, and walk through the rooms until they come to a door that was nearly identical to every other one, except it had the number fifty-two engraved on the door. Hanabi lightly knocks and states her name, waiting for the soft footsteps to reach the door.

“Hanabi-san,” Asagao greets, “Kiku-dono is already here, come in.” Oniyuri didn’t really know Asagao, but Hanabi said she was the mother of the other baby who went through the ritual at the same time as her.

“Oh, I’m sorry for making you wait,” Hanabi apologises, slightly bowing to the clan head. Oniyuri turns her head and slightly dips it. Kiku doesn’t bow back, but she levels her steady eyes to meet hers.

“It is no problem.” She answers, turning her gaze back to the other baby across the simple table that all of the rooms provided. He – it was obvious that it was a he, not only from the haircut but also the hard facial features.

“Good morning,” he clearly says, more towards Oniyuri than to Hanabi.

“H-H-Hi.” Oniyuri felt embarrassed, and it only messed up her pronunciation further. Hanabi told her she was progressing quickly with her speech, and yet this boy completely smashed through her record. He even said it in keigo!

“I see your speech is advanced like Asagao said, Ajisai” Kiku comments, and then diverts her attention to a packet of papers beside her as Hanabi sits Oniyuri beside Ajisai. The two older women leave them with the clan head, retreating to a corner of Asagao and Ajisai’s hotel room.

“Now, in this introduction, we will be learning more about the Suiei Clan and this new world we live in.” She picks out a few papers and lies them on the table. Thankfully, it was low enough for both of them to see. One of them was clearly a map – it had an irregular shape with lines crisscrossing all over it, single Kanji emblazed in the centre.

“This is the Elemental Nations. Each country is named after an element, funnily enough. New countries pop up and disappear all the time, mostly after a War. The five main countries are Fire, Lightning, Wind, Earth, and Water, powered through their Hidden Village. Other countries are Wave, Waterfall, Rain, Stone, River, Whirlpool, Frost, Hot Spring, Rice Fields and Grass, where we are currently. There is also Iron, but it does not allow outsiders to enter.” She points out each of the countries on the map.

Kiku goes into detail about which country is famous for, whatever they sell. She tells us about a few things about each country, like how the clan was traced back to Lightning, the people in Sound don’t particularly welcome them, and only once every five years are they allowed into Iron. She mentions that villages are normally only about 100 people large, and the biggest could only reach around a thousand. They dotted the continent, almost hundred thousand towns, and more were appearing each day.

Finally, she places the map away, yet she doesn’t get another one. Kiku turns to Oniyuri and Ajisai and laced her fingers together. Despite Oniyuri not knowing what was going on, she felt herself almost anticipating the next words out of Kiku’s mouth.

“I am sure that your caretakers have mentioned the existence of ninjas.” Oniyuri nods best she could, but only could barely dip her head down in fear of tipping over. “They are not the silly ninjas that use simple tricks to fool ordinary people. The most famous ninjas can easily level a town without breaking a sweat. _Do not_ think that ninjas use _tricks_.”

There was something seeping into the air that felt thicker and heavier than humidity and a _lot_ more dangerous. It made Oniyuri’s heart beat faster, and the light seemed to desert the room, and for the first time in a very long time, Oniyuri felt _scared._

Abruptly, it disappeared.

“That was _killing intent,_ ” Kiku explains, her posture not moving. Oniyuri realised she hadn’t moved at all. “Ninjas can create _far_ worse, and a weak heart can give out if it’s too strong. That is only the _bare_ minimum of what a ninja can do.”

She pauses, letting it sink in.

Oniyuri doesn’t quite know why Kiku scared them like that. She could see that it was more to scare them into understanding that ninjas shouldn’t be underestimated, but if the heart thing was true, then why expose two recently-born babies to it? Whatever Kiku’s purpose was, it probably had the opposite effect on Oniyuri. A fire of curiosity flickers inside her, urging her to learn _more_.

Kiku leans back, the threat theatrics apparently over.

“The reason why ninjas are so strong is because of _chakra._ ” She draws out another piece of paper, a simple outline of a person with strange lines all over the body. From what she remembered, Oniyuri couldn’t remember any medical diagram like that.

A little yin and yang were drawn in the gut of the outline, a kanji that Oniyuri recognised as physical on the chest and another kanji – this time mental – taking up space inside the head. Both hands were engulfed in a whitish-blueish fire.

“The chakra they use is the mix of mental chakra and physical chakra,” here she pointed to the corresponding kanji “they then draw it to the hands where they form it via hand seals.” She then moved her hands in strange patterns.

“Here is where we’re delving into clan secrets. Do not repeat them to other people without my explicit permission.” Kiku casts a glance at both of them, before continuing. “After accessing your past memories, your mental chakra will skyrocket, far quicker than your physical chakra can keep up with. Tell me, how old are you?”

Ajisai repeats his without a single sign of struggle while it took Oniyuri some time and several attempts to stutter out her age. Embarrassment burned her checks - Ajisai was far younger than her, and yet he easily outstripped her.

Kiku smiles and nodded. “I suspected so. Oniyuri-san, your mental chakra is the biggest I’ve ever seen in this life. I think it’s the biggest since the birth of this clan.” Oniyuri blinks in shock, nearly slipping off the block she was leaning against, catching her balance by the skin of her teeth. Oniyuri knew she had been _old_ , but she found it hard to believe that the clan didn’t have a few elderly people in their midst.

Despite her doubts, Oniyuri felt a little self-esteem return.

“Our clan earn our income by travelling to many, many places to give entertainment to everybody. And that includes _everybody_.” Oniyuri was slightly confused by the sudden change of topics but nevertheless continued to listen. “We dance.”

She blinked – Oniyuri didn’t see that coming.

“Because our chakra is unbalanced, we treat it differently. We’ll go into that at a later date, but basically, we use our chakra to control _water_.” Oh. So that’s why they were named Suiei.

Kiku slides her hand around the ceramic cup that Oniyuri had ignored for the most of the session. She raises her hand and when the middle of her palm passed the opening of the cup, water followed. Oniyuri could’ve sworn up and down that what she saw was plain _water bending_ , not _chakra_.

The Clan head plays around with the water for a little, drawing kanji, spreading it flat and then disrupting the surface so it looked like the sea, and finally reached out to us and tapped us on the nose, where Ajisai hiccupped.

“Is there any questions?” Kiku asks when the water returns to her cup.

Hell yeah, Oniyuri wanted to say, but her speed impediment closed over her mouth like an invisible hand. Mentally sighing, she turns her head to watch Ajisai, no doubt bursting with questions. Surprisingly, all he did was gape at their clan head like she had broken his world.

“Alright, then,” Kiku says, shuffling around her papers. “Once you learn how to speak and crawl, I’ll visit you two again.” Hanabi and Asagao’s voices grew closer, apparently sensing the teaching lesson was over.

“Have a good day, Kiku-dono,” Hanabi bows deeply, and they all stand in silence until she leaves. Hanabi gently picks up Oniyuri, settling her tiny body onto her hip again. “See you later, Asagao-san,”

“Bye,” Oniyuri carefully says, giving the other woman and the little boy on the ground a wave. Asagao returns it with a small smile, but Ajisai doesn’t even acknowledge it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A little note (A/N)**  
>  Be prepared for a lot of OCs, a lot of world building, and a lot of weird shit being made up. And swearing, that too.  
> Updates every Tuesday until I run out of previously written chapters. Have a nice day :D


	3. 1. Ritual / Chapter 3

The next morning was chaotic, but had an underlying tone of order. They were leaving again, aiming for Waterfall. They would tour the area, visiting the Hidden Village Taki last for the Daimyo there. Hanabi explained _Hidden_ Villages were different from the small towns that littered the continent as that’s where ninjas were trained, and the populations there tended to hit around ten thousand for the less powerful Villages while the Five (Konoha, Suna, Kumo, Kiri, and Iwa) were nearly hundred thousand. Protection was the prime concern for this life.

The morning routine was already familiar to Oniyuri. The Suiei Clan moved every few days, jumping from the next village to the neighbouring towns. There wasn’t much for Oniyuri to do, only to sit there and exercise her weak muscles. Secretly she tried to do the thing Kiku did with the water, but the most that happened was water slopping in the cup. Thankfully, Oniyuri was finally able to pick the cup up, but it took all her concentration to grasp it with two hands.

Hanabi, on the other hand, moved from one end of the house to the other, quietly packing whatever had crept out during their two days stay at the Grass hotel, which wasn’t that much.

Hanabi paused around a quarter to eight to feed Oniyuri, where she proudly showed off her cup lifting skills. Her caretaker merely blinked and congratulated Oniyuri on the achievement, and offered the spoon (empty so nothing could spill) for her to be preoccupied with while Hanabi called on her friend. 

Hanabi returned a short time later with none other than Asagao in tow, Ajisai on her hip. The other woman sets the boy down next to her, setting the cup that she had just previously showcased her ability to lift it to Hanabi.

The older women chatter as Oniyuri casts a glance towards Ajisai, who was trying to lift the cup. One half of her expected him to easily lift it with one hand without concentration, but his hand couldn’t even grasp around the cup as his hands were too weak and too small. Perhaps that part that had high expectations what just salty over the fact that Ajisai could speak.

“T-Two hands!” Oniyuri explains, making grabbing hands towards the cup. Ajisai immediately scowls.

“Can’t you speak clearly?” He grumbles but slides the cup over with a little hand waving. Taken by surprise, Oniyuri has to wait for a full two seconds to understand what Ajisai was getting at. Very carefully she grasped the cup with two hands and raised it, even trying to hold it to her lips. She would’ve taken a sip, but that meant tipping backwards and she was perfectly fine with staying upright.

“Oh, of course,” Ajisai mutters in English, “start with _two hands_.” Oniyuri sets down the cup and slides it toward him again, noticeably a lot smoother than his previous wild smack towards her. He tries again and this time his fingers completely circle the cup.

“Wow, working together! Such cuteness,” Asagao sighs, holding her hands over her heart. “You two are definitely made for each other.” Oniyuri sends her the flattest look she could with a baby’s face. Ajisai was _far_ too young for Oniyuri to consider, even when they grew up. Plus, she wasn’t interested in romance, full stop. She wished that she could tell Asagao all this because Oniyuri could predict that Asagao was the type of person to see a girl and a boy and presume they were together.

“No thank you,” Ajisai curtly cuts off anything Asagao was going to say, sounding as disgusted as a cute baby could.

“Come on Asagao-san, leave them alone. I’ll help you with Ajisai-san.” Hanabi intervenes, walking over to pick up the boy in question.

Because of the lack of technology, the Suiei Clan got around by walking. Those unable to walk had to be carried – the elderly in caravans, the babies strapped to their caretakers’ back. Unfortunately, the way they did that was by wrapping a piece of rope. It had taken Oniyuri several attempts by Hanabi to be convinced to do it the first time, and she still didn’t like it. But it was the only way without tiring Hanabi’s arms.

When Hanabi was finally done attaching Ajisai to Asagao’s back, it was her turn. At least this time, Oniyuri got to see Ajisai’s extremely disgruntled face every time Asagao was in front of Hanabi.

With the two babies off the floor and out of the way, Hanabi could do the final sweep of the room. She packed away the little backrest they propped them up and returned the cup to the little kitchen. Once that was done, Hanabi tied the little scroll that held everything she owned on her back, snuggly sitting at the bottom of her spine. Oniyuri only knew of this because Hanabi followed Asagao back to her room after locking the room she was just in and the other woman did the same thing.

All around them the rest of the clan was also leaving their rooms. Oniyuri could see a few people she was introduced over the past few weeks but hadn’t really interacted since. Much like Hanabi said a few days ago – the clan wore traditional clothes – nearly everybody around them had a yukata on.

Outside the hotel was the same organised chaos. The elderly were being led towards the caravan with the Suiei Clan emblem painted on the side, while the younger members intermingled and chatted. That, coupled with the busy street, equated to a lot of mayhem.

Oniyuri turned her head towards the hotel, waiting for the one person they were all waiting for – Kiku. She was always the last because she went into every room and made sure no members were left behind. When she appeared, Oniyuri tugged on Hanabi’s sleeve and slurred out Kiku’s name, making sure to add the honorific _dono_ at the end. It takes a few seconds, but the clan falls silent.

“Alright, let’s get going,” Kiku says, falling into step behind the carriage, the rest of the clan slowly lining up. They leave the village – the name of which Oniyuri never learnt – with a swift pace. In fact, _too_ fast.

“Walk fast,” Oniyuri asks, wanting to beat herself up over the awful sentence structure.

“You have good eyes Oniyuri-sama,” Hanabi smiles, the bare edges of it skimming the sides of Oniyuri’s sight. “We can only stay at towns that have the capacity to hold us all, so that means very small towns can’t offer more than a lunch break. Most of the time, the distance between our start and our target is larger than walking speed, so we use chakra to speed things along.” True to her word, the convoy was picking up speed. She felt like an idiot not noticing the superhuman speed beforehand.

“I… sama?” It takes some time for Hanabi to recognise what she was asking for, and with each passing second, all Oniyuri could think of was Ajisai’s perfect speech.

“Me calling you sama? Well, you’re older than me, so to be polite, I add sama. Its just manners, I can drop it if you want.” She explained.

“Oniyuriiii, pleaaaasé.” The frustration built inside Oniyuri. How the hell did Ajisai get so _good_ in such little time? It was _insane_. Dimly, she heard Hanabi repeating her name, finally dropping the honorific.

“You have a fantastic speech for a newborn, Oniyuri-san!” The new voice cuts into the off-key conversation, and Oniyuri looks over to see a new man, one that she had been introduced to but had since forgotten his name. She had been introduced to many people.

“Nanohana,” Hanabi greets, a little note of surprise. Normally on these hikes, Hanabi and Oniyuri were by themselves, not talking to those around them.

“I see that Oniyuri-san and Ajisai-san got their introduction yesterday,” The apparently named Nanohana cheerfully continues on. “Welcome to the clan, Oniyuri.”

“Ajisai, better,” Oniyuri mutters into the back of Hanabi’s yukata. She doubts that it was soft enough for Nanohana to overhear though.

“What about me?” The arrogant brat drifts from the other side that Nanohana was on. Oniyuri turns her head to spot Asagao with a smirking baby clutching her yukata for dear life. She wanted to laugh at the weird oxymoron that it presented. Just to be a _little_ annoying back to the twit, Oniyuri dropped her soft grip on Hanabi’s yukata. She swore Ajisai’s smirk wavered for a moment.

Nanohana barks out a laugh, carrying over the surprisingly soft sound of the clan running. “I guess I should extend a welcome to you too Ajisai-san.” He grins. “I bet you guys are curious about the ninjas, right?”

“Nanohana-san,” Hanabi scolded.

“Oh, come on Hanabi-chan, let him go.” Asagao laughed, and Ajisai gripped her yukata a little tighter.

Instead of showing off whatever ninjas skills Nanohana had, or feeding us obviously fake stories, he told us a little history about the Suiei Clan.

Around the end of the Warring Clans Era (a term we were supposed to learn in future lessons), the Suiei Clan was invited by the developing villages to stay there. Of course, they declined because they wanted to keep their entertainment open for everyone, but they left a few members that did want to become a ninja behind.

Eventually, some of them returned and they were stationed as guards. They handed down the ninja techniques to those who were interested, and despite their skills being several decades out of date, they could defend against bandits where their fame did not. It turns out that the Suiei shows were heavily sought out.

Nanohana pointed out to shadows in the long grass that moved too fast, quicker than the convoy themselves. Those were the guards.

“Occasionally, they’ll come out during travelling to talk with us. Apart from that, they still live in the same hotels as us.” As soon as he finishes, a blur jumps out of the wavering grass, too fast for Oniyuri’s baby eyes to keep up with, landing next to Kiku. The man spoke to her for a few moments and then disappeared, vanishing back into the surrounding plains.

The fire of curiosity that had dulled over the past day roared back into life. Oniyuri wanted to know _more_.

“Unfortunately, those who peruse the ninja arts can’t be a dancer,” Nanohana sighs, despair and disappointment evident in his voice.

“Could you tell me more about the dancers?” Ajisai spoke up, voicing the question that had been hanging on the back of her mind since the talk with Kiku yesterday. In fact, there were a lot of questions that had been hanging around since that talk.

“I know that it sounds silly that a clan can last for centuries just by dancing, but we survive by doing many, many different things. We tell stories, we dance with more than one person, and music can be added. But anybody could do that. What makes us special is that we dance _on_ and _with_ water. Multiple outsiders have tried to replicate what we do, but they always fail.” Nanohana’s voice turns mischievous. “For a good reason.”

“Alright!” Kiku calls and holds up a hand. “Slow down! Waterfall’s border approaches.”

This was the first time Oniyuri was awake for a crossing of the borders. The ritual she partook in was held on the coast of Earth country, and the day after they crossed into Grass. She was still unused to a new body and couldn’t resist the call of sleep, and during that little nap, they crossed.

Hanabi had informed her of what to do when they crossed the border yesterday. First to arrive were the runners. They scouted ahead and gave notice to villages of their passing, advertising the Clan. However, because a few decades ago someone snuck through the border by faking their identification as a Suiei runner, they couldn’t cross it until the rest of the clan caught up. Next to where the guards, as those with chakra had a longer vetting process and finally was the rest of the clan.

As every country knew who the Suiei Clan was, there wasn’t much animosity, except during the Ninja Wars, where it just took longer to pass borders.

Hanabi had shown Oniyuri a small scroll that had her identification papers, which showed where she was born, who her parents were, and general appearance identifications. It wasn’t much, but Oniyuri suspects it was only because she was a civilian.

They slow down well before the border, and by the time the wooden building appears on the horizon, they were going at civilian speed.

The building was placed on a small hill, which had slowly started to appear, disrupting the smooth grass plains. Beyond the building, the hills grew great in number and size. The border guard looked more like a lookout than a simple border check. The highest level was completely open, allowing people to see for miles.

Two little flags hang from the side, not much to it but a simple line that was fashioned differently. The one that was closest to them resembled blades of grass while the other one, to Oniyuri, looked like an arrow that was split down the middle.

There was a gathering of people at the base – the blue yukatas of the Suiei Clan were intermingled with some darker colours. From what Nanohana had told her, they were the runners and guards and the others were most likely ninjas.

Ninjas.

Kiku steps up immediately, handing over a very thick scroll that had two ends, one side that had far more paper than the other. Hanabi had explained that was the record of every Suiei Clan, and it should open up on the oldest living clan member, so they don’t have to go through the profiles of older members.

Slowly they go through the process, one member at a time. Like Hanabi said, it took a long time for the guards to be approved. Kiku made sure that the runners were done first, so they could once again leave before the clan.

It took nearly half an hour for Hanabi and Oniyuri’s turn, Asagao and Ajisai having gone in front of them. Kiku looked up, saw who was next and quickly unrolled the scroll to Hanabi’s profile, while she took out her identification scroll from her sleeves, offering it to the ninja. He calmly reads it through, eyes flickering from the scroll to Hanabi’s face.

Oniyuri saw another scroll sitting on the desk, looking identical to her identification scroll. It was in her reach – Hanabi had to lean down to sign a document. Thankfully, her skill at grabbing cylinder objects was good enough for her to pick up the scroll with only one hand. Hanabi stands straight again when she feels the weight on her back move, clearly startled.

“Ha-na-bi!” Oniyuri squeals, trying to act like an actual baby. The ninja sees the scroll she was waving about and holds his hand out to accept it, smiling pleasantly.

“What a cute baby you are…. Oniyuri-san,” the ninja chuckles, reading her name from the scroll. He doesn’t scrutinise it much and hands it back to her soon enough. Oniyuri awards the man with a smile. “Have a nice day, Hanabi-san and Oniyuri-san.” He gives us a little wave, which was much more than any other member got.

Once they got the pat down, Oniyuri finally surrenders the scroll, letting Hanabi tug it out of her tiny fist. By then her tiny body was already exhausted and Oniyuri had forced herself to stay awake for the border crossing.

She looked over her shoulder, trying to find Asagao and Ajisai. To her satisfaction, he was long asleep, head resting against Asagao’s shoulders. Oniyuri murmured “goodnight” to Hanabi, finally falling asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little note (A/N)
> 
> May I extend my heartfelt thanks to those who have reviewed. This has been the fastest I’ve ever received this many reviews, thank you. c:


	4. 1. Ritual / Chapter Four

While Waterfall was larger than Grass, the hills and – oddly enough – waterfalls made it hard for small villages to be set up. Those that did typically were too squished together to invest in a hotel with enough rooms to host the Clan, so with Waterfall, there weren't many places to go.

Apart from the Hidden Village (ninjas!), there were only two other villages that they were booked for. For small countries like Rain and Grass, it normally takes a month to travel to all the towns, and that was by moving every two or so days. Normally, the Suiei Clan would in and out of Waterfall within a week, but Hanabi had informed Oniyuri that the next area they were to visit was _Iron,_ and they were only allowed into it in a month’s time.

That meant that the Suiei Clan could stay in one place for as long as a whole week. Which _also_ meant, perfect training time for the newborns.

While Ajisai could speak, he wasn’t very good at moving his body, which was the complete opposite with Oniyuri herself. Where Ajisai could ask an adult to get him a drink, Oniyuri could crawl over to the kitchen and get the drink herself. Normally this evolved into Ajisai demanding Oniyuri to get him a cup as well. Luckily, Oniyuri was used to rude people, having made friends with enough.

Oniyuri had tried to improve her pronunciation to the best she could, but there wasn’t anyone to compare it to. Other than Ajisai, there hadn’t been anyone else born for several months prior to her rebirth, and nobody else was expecting for another two. Eventually, Oniyuri couldn’t see any improvement in her speech and eventually gave up on that approach, focusing on her mobility.

Such decisions lead to one fine afternoon, just after a lesson of history. They were scheduled to leave the Hidden Village the next day, so the lesson wasn’t that focused, tending to lean towards the simple ask-and-I-will-answer than the presentations they did.

Oniyuri had several questions she had compiled for this lesson, as something similar had happened the history lesson before they left for the Hidden Village. She didn’t want to embarrass herself by speaking so Oniyuri had written out her questions by hand the night before. Her hand wasn’t as steady as she wanted, but the writing was legible, so it would do.

She had been slowly putting her hand up all throughout the lesson, holding up the piece of paper when called upon. Her questions ranged from simple yes or no questions to questions that the teacher had to stop and think about.

Ajisai, who had just sat in silence for the lesson, soaked up anything the teacher answered. Just as Oniyuri was about to hold her hand up, Ajisai’s hand shot up.

“Ajisai-san?” the teacher called out his name, waiting for the question.

“You mentioned the existence of Bijus.” He says, clearly in English. “What are they?” It was a little strange that he chose to speak in English, seeing as some of the children in the room were still learning Japanese and you weren’t always sure that everyone spoke English. Not to mention, Ajisai could easily speak in Japanese.

“I’m sorry?” the teacher blinks, evidently confused. Case One: whoever he was, he didn’t speak English. Ajisai sighed. He rattles off this sentence that Oniyuri vaguely recognises as a European language. The teacher answers back in the same language, a little hesitant at first, but then going into full teaching mode. Finally, the teacher pauses and adds another sentence that Ajisai answers back with a single word, and sits back in his chair.

Oniyuri shamefully lowers her head down to the sheafs of paper and just _looks_ at the writing. Before, she thought it was decent, ok at best, with a lot of improvement to be done. But then Ajisai, who was not only decades younger than her, but also did the ritual at the same time, spoke not only one language clearly, but _three_ , two of which were European languages, which were a challenge to its own right.

Now her writing looked like a _child_ did it. And despite the fact that Oniyuri was a child, so was Ajisai, and he could get his mouth around three different languages. The desire to improve her speech shrived up and died at that exact moment.

Oniyuri slumped into her seat, and ignored the rest of the class, not noticing it was done until Hanabi came in to pick her up to take her back to the little apartment hotel that they had. They had dinner, where Oniyuri ate her baby mush with little enthusiasm. It didn’t taste very nice in the first place, and it was worse now when Oniyuri felt everything that she had accomplished with her speech drain away. 

Hanabi asked her a few questions about her day, but Oniyuri only mumbled her response into her spoon. On other days, she took this opportunity to see how far she got in terms of speech, but today she just didn’t feel like talking.

As soon Hanabi stood up to take the plates to the kitchen, Oniyuri began her daily crawl to whatever she called her bed that night. A few nights ago they had stacked a few items next to the bed so she could get to the raised bed without requiring Hanabi to pick her up and place her on the bed.

“Oniyuri?” Hanabi exiting the kitchen to find her already on her bed. An amused smile flashed across her face. “Tired? You ready for tomorrow’s travel?” Oniyuri wasn’t really but nodded anyway. Her caretaker quickly finished what she was doing in the kitchen, and found her bed once all the lights were off.

Oniyuri sat on her bed, contemplating the day. Normally, she would take this time to run over all the alphabets of every language she had, pronouncing each sound carefully before moving onto the next. It was a good practice at first, as it improved her language exponentially, but when she opened her mouth to do it, Ajisai came to her mind.

And so she closed her mouth and rolled over in bed, getting ready to sleep.

Here, Oniyuri came to a standstill – if she lost all motive to improve her speech, what else should she do to fill in the boring days?

Focus on the stuff she _was_ good at.

Just before Oniyuri fell asleep, she set herself the goal of walking unassisted before the next week was out.

* * *

Waterfall’s Hidden Village, called Taki, was the only Village that was actually _hidden_. At least, that’s what Nanohana said. Oniyuri was still sceptical of what came out of his mouth after he told her and Ajisai something about the Suiei Clan and Hanabi had walloped him across his head.

Despite that, Oniyuri had to agree that Taki was hidden. When the Suiei Clan entered it, they had to be blindfolded and guided through kilometres of tunnels through the hills and waterfalls, and it was the same story exiting it. On the way there, Oniyuri wondered if the village was underground until they arrived and was greeted by open blue skies. She wondered if the surrounding forest was deadly if they boasted the fact nobody could find them. Or perhaps there were cliffs deep enough to discourage all humans.

The final village rises up before them, previously hidden by the hills, shaking Oniyuri from her thoughts. It wasn’t as big as the Hidden Village, but compared to the first Waterfall village they stayed at, it was noticeably larger. The Clan were eagerly welcomed; civilians’ faces lighting up when they spot the clan symbol.

Shouts of “They’re here!” and “Wow, I haven’t seen them in years,” echoed around the still moving convoy. Judging by the fact this had happened several times in other villages, Oniyuri could see herself getting very tired by it quickly.

The place they were staying for the next week was a little different from previous months. The hotel was built _into_ a hill, low lit lamps giving a warm feeling to the individual rooms. It reminded Oniyuri of the houses in Cooper Pedy, only a lot less rocky and more dirt and concrete from what Oniyuri could remember from the one time she visited. Just for fun, she stuck matchsticks into the cracks that she could reach, but Hanabi couldn’t draw the connection.

So she turned her attention to walking. She was probably the youngest baby to try to attempt walking, but Oniyuri didn’t care. The Suiei Clan had knowledge on how babies can easily regain their skills, and Hanabi said her body was built like a ninja, so it genetically ready for her to be physically active at a younger age.

“Your father was probably a ninja,” Hanabi shrugs as she starts to cook dinner, “That, or he at least came from a line of ninjas.” Oniyuri pauses. This was the first time Hanabi had really mentioned her father, apart from the fact her name came from him.

“Can you tell me about him?” she presses. That fire of curiosity burned away, eagerly taking the chance to talk about ninjas. If he wasn’t a ninja, at least she got to know at least a little about him.

“He was a one-night stand,” she admitted, pouring the water into the pot of rice “I was looking for a father and he was just there. I made sure to tell him that, but I don’t think he heard me. Anyway, he was pretty fit, even for a civilian. Either he was a Konoha ninja or a ninja visiting the Land of Fire. I had my suspicions, but when I sensed that you had a lot of chakra for a civilian mother, even before your ritual, I think it was half-confirmed. Still, he didn’t say it outright.”

Hanabi goes on to tell her that while she wanted a child, she wasn’t interested in anybody, preserving the idea that she was mentally too old for anybody, and anybody that was old enough would think her physically too young.

Oniyuri accepted for what it was because it made sense. It wouldn’t make an impact on her anyway; she didn’t have any children in her past life, and she sure wasn’t going to start in this one.

Once that discussion had passed, Hanabi had gone out for a chat with one of her friends in the Clan, and Oniyuri got to work on her walking skills, with minimal progress. Still, she could see her balance had improved, even so just a little, and that kept her spirits high. She tried to control her chakra, with nothing to show, before Hanabi returned and they went to bed.

The next few days saw an increase of her walking skills, as well as the continuation of the lessons. Oniyuri had enough of the physical lessons, seeing as they were still focusing on sitting up, and asked the teacher for more advanced lessons. The teacher was extremely amused to learn that she could already walk while holding someone else’s hand, and lead her to someone else’s room.

The door opened to music. There were only five children in the room with one adult, but all the children had to be at least a year older than her. The six of them stopped to look at the new addition to their group. Oniyuri had to give some kudos to the children and the adult; they didn’t even blink to see a younger member being added to their lesson.

“Kigiku-san” Oniyuri’s now ex-teacher waves at the adult. “Oniyuri-san isn’t _quite_ ready, but she would learn more here than in my class.” The adult nodded, and Oniyuri gently releases the hand of her old teacher to fall on her bottom, crawling over to the rest of the small class.

“Have you played any instruments?” Kigiku quietly asks. Kigiku was genderless, every sign of gender carefully erased, but there were some things Oniyuri could tell about them. For one, they didn’t wear the normal yukata nearly every Suiei wore, instead, they wore a traditional kimono with sleeves nearly as long as themselves. They were regal, in a quiet way. This was a teacher who knew their shit.

The rest of the class had little things to separate them from each other. All had the Suiei Clan hair; simple black hair that was just barely springy to not be called dead straight, soft dark blue eyes and the classic dark Kumo skin, and most of them had the facial features that typically ran in the Clan, although some, like Oniyuri, was diluted, as common when the other parent came from outside. Some had longer hair, some had hair ornaments, some had bandaged-covered fingers, and some had different yukatas than the default they were handed to upon birth.

“…long time ago, played the violin. Still can read sheet music, but...” Oniyuri mumbles. Kigiku nods thoughtfully, carefully thinking. Oniyuri got the impression that every movement, every thought was carefully thought out before executed; like their life was just another instrument to be played.

“This world does not have sheet music.” The kimono-clad non-binary explains “songs are individually taught.” Oniyuri nods, crawling to sit in line with the rest of the students. And with that, Kigiku didn’t focus on Oniyuri again, casting class-wide questions and explained how each instrument worked and their role in each song to the whole class. She was pleased to find out that she could play an instrument, slightly, just by picking up the pick and holding it in between her thumbs, carefully playing hot-cross-buns on the three strings of the shamisen.  

Oniyuri exited that class flushed with accomplishment, smiling lightly at Hanabi as they went out to the town to have some local lunch. She was slightly dreading the history lesson that was to come after lunch, but she wouldn’t let her personal image of _Ajisai_ bring her down. And besides, it wasn’t a free-for-all questionnaire.

Lunch was entertaining. The waitress acted like she had never seen a baby before with how she reacted to Oniyuri, cooing and sighing over the fake acts she displayed. Towards the end the girl was grating on Oniyuri’s nerves. She backed off, thankfully, when Oniyuri pretended to fall asleep on Hanabi’s lap.

“Your acting skills are very good, Oniyuri,” Hanabi noted. She shrugged.

“Model for a little bit.” After a few short years, she switched to accounting, because it was something that she was interested in at school, and it paid good money. The huge amount of money she was paid had a good hand in creating a sizeable library in her home. Oniyuri paused, casting her mind back her magnificent library. “Does the Suiei clan have a library?”

“Slightly; we have all our booked stored away in one massive scroll. If you want, I’ll take you to it after history.” Oniyuri must’ve looked overly pleased by this development because Hanabi laughed and said they’ll be going as soon as history was over.

Thankfully, history was good. Because Iron was their next target, their lessons for the next week was going to be geared towards the country.

There was a lot of ground work to be set up, and her history teacher promised that next lesson would be more interesting, but Oniyuri still enjoyed today.

Iron was the only country that didn’t have ninjas but hated them and restricted travel between the borders, the security growing tougher as time passed. Only the Suiei Clan’s fame was the saviour, giving them access to Iron.

It had been during the first shinobi war where their entry permit was limited to ten years, in an effort to keep the ninjas out. The next shogun, thankfully, liked the Suiei clan dances enough to cut that time in half.

Iron was noticeably the closest to Japan from Earth than everyone else from the rest of the Elemental Nations. They had samurais, they had swords, they had the government that replicated the Tokugawa Shogunate feudal system. But as much as they hated ninjas, they could still access chakra, and they still used it, although differently.  But this was only the bare basics Oniyuri would learn in the coming week, and she was excited for more.

“Come on, Oniyuri,” Hanabi called a few steps from her desk. It was far enough to warrant her to walk a few steps – still unsteadily, but far better than practically anybody else in the room could accomplish, apart from the adults – so Oniyuri carefully pushed her chair away from her desk and slid down, taking care to monitor where her feet landed and her balance, trying to not push herself by showing off.

Once in Hanabi’s arms, Oniyuri looked around the room to see that nobody had noticed her accomplishment, so she shrugged it off and eagerly wait for Hanabi to take them to the so-called Suiei Library.

It was, simultaneously, a disappointment and broke everything she expected. True to Hanabi’s words, all the books were sealed away in one massive scroll and were monitored by a librarian.

“Hello there,” the cheerful boy asked, not even ten, sliding the book he was reading shut and placing it beside the scroll on his table. “Is there a book you're looking for?”

“Not really,” Hanabi answers “but is there anything you would recommend for Oniyuri?” The boy leant closer to peer at her, close enough for her to see the small painted dot on his forehead, almost too dark to see against his skin.

“Ah, I’ve been hearing gossip about you, Oniyuri-san!” the boy exclaims, cheerfully unrolling the massive scroll to show at least three sealing points, with more probably hidden further in the scroll. He proceeded to unroll the scroll, stop, unseal a book, unroll it more, unroll, unroll, unseal, unroll…

Finally, he held out five books, ranging from thicker than her arm to a small booklet.

“I think these would suit you,” he says and pulls out yet _another_ scroll, only to write on this one. Perhaps that was the catalogue of outgoing and incoming books.

Hanabi took the accepted books, and not shortly after that they were waving the boy goodbye. Leaving him to pick up his book. The books were too heavy for Oniyuri to have a look at them now, and would have to wait until they got back to their own hill-room.

Once inside, Hanabi placed them out on the table for Oniyuri to observe and vanished into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

The first book was surprisingly in Korean. For one, Oniyuri hadn’t had the chance to really talk in that language, and besides, where would she use it outside of the Clan? Nevertheless, she picked it up and flipped it over to see if it had a blurb. It was a book on several physical activities newborns tend to forget and pay for it later, like some finger stretches and gum exercises. It reminded Oniyuri that she had to go through gumming. Hanabi had explained to her it was very painful, and there was little the Clan could help. This was one of those booklets.

The second book was a little on music, and the different instruments the Suiei Clan used in their dances, and the size wasn’t much bigger than the previous book. This time, the book was in English.

The third book was useless; it was in Thai, and she didn’t know how to speak that, and only knew how to identify it. Sighing, she set it aside. The boy probably heard she had spent most of her life in Japan and other nearby countries. She flicked through it and was a little sad to put it aside. The pictures looked interesting.

The fourth book was just a little bigger than the musical book, this time in Mandarin and explained about the different types of dances the Suiei clan could and did, do. There were a lot of colourful pictures inside.

The final book was the biggest, so she left it for last, and wasn’t disappointed. It was notably _not_ Suiei and it was battered. The language inside resembled Japanese enough for her to understand it. Oniyuri opened the cover to spot a little note in English, warning the reader that it was slightly biased. It was understandable – most books not of Suiei origin were biased. Even books from inside were biased. The book itself was what Oniyuri was most excited about. It was on _ninjas_.

“Oniyuri,” Hanabi called, exiting the kitchen to lean over the books. Her eyes widened when she spotted the different languages. “You can read all of those languages?”

“Not Thai,” Oniyuri muttered, eyes flickering over each of the books, trying to decide to which one she should read first. In her first life, she was something of a language nut, eating up four Asian languages one after the other, with Japanese being the one she was most fluent and Vietnamese the least.

“Wow, I can only speak French, German and Japanese.” Hanabi grinned at Oniyuri reaching over the table to ruffle the little hair growing out of her head. “Could you clear the table? Dinner’s almost ready.”

By the time her caretaker had brought over the dinner, Oniyuri had taken each book back over to her bed one at a time and chosen which book she would crack open first. Once dinner was over, she returned to bed with a full stomach and cracked open the Korean book, settling down for the night.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little note (A/N)
> 
> Sorry for not updating earlier I forgot hahahahah :)
> 
> If you don’t know what a Cooper Pedy house is, look it up. The short story is: they live out in the middle of Australia where it is so extremely hot they made houses in the rocky hills. They wedge matchsticks in the cracks in the ceiling, so if it widens, the matchsticks fall and the people living there are warned. At least, that’s what I remember from my visit there. That, and a lot of opals.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm Amy. I'm just sliding by to say that I'm hoping to update this, and my other story, Lyall, once a month. Thanks for reading!  
> 


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